Employment Law

Caution when dealing with employees’ ‘protected concerted activity’

10/01/2007

Q. I recently received a memo signed by all four employees in one department asking for 5% raises. Can I have a meeting with them to let them know that there is no money for raises, that their department could easily be eliminated and that they would be smarter just to keep a low profile and do their jobs?

Employee References: Sample Release Form

09/28/2007

White Paper published by The HR Specialist, copyright 2007 ______________________ It’s a smart legal move to require employees to sign a waiver releasing your organization from liability for providing truthful employment references. The following is a sample Employment Reference Release form that was adapted from several state bar associations’ employment law groups. You can use […]

USERRA: An Employer’s Guide to Military Leave Law

09/25/2007

Login Email Address Password I forgot my password To continue reading this page, become an HR Specialist Premium Plus member today! Your subscription includes: Ask the Attorney: Answers to your HR legal questions Compliance Guidance: Access to 7,000 HR news articles, updated daily, sorted by state State-by-State: Summaries of HR laws in all 50 states […]

Are you overpaying staff for pre- and post-Work activities?

09/25/2007

The good news: Recent court rulings say you generally don’t have to pay for the time employees spend preparing for their workday, such as waiting in security lines or putting on generic headgear and work boots. The bad news: These kinds of cases continue to find their way into court, and the issue seems far from settled. Keep your lawyer’s phone number handy.

Independent Contractor or Employee? How to Make The Call

09/18/2007

White Paper published by The HR Specialist ______________________ For years, the IRS has relied on a 20-factor test to determine whether a worker is considered an “employee” or an “independent contractor.” Conferring contractor status on a worker often benefits the employer, who is then not obligated to withhold income tax or to pay Social Security […]

Battle of the benefits: PTO bank may calm parent vs. nonparent tension

09/18/2007

Parents vs. nonparents. Gen Y vs. Gen X and the baby boomers. In some workplaces, there’s growing tension over benefits inequality. HR better listen if employees complain that they’re getting worse benefits than their co-workers. One solution: Paid time off banks can help calm discontent.

Political Expression at Work: Limit Distractions, but Allow Free Speech

09/12/2007

Pregnancy & maternity leave: A legal guide and sample policy

09/11/2007

White Paper published by HR Specialist, copyright 2007 _________________________________ When an employee announces she’s pregnant, her employer better be able to deliver more than just congratulations. You need legally sound, consistent policies and practices to ward off potential pregnancy complications of your own. It’s important to know what you must do—and what you can’t do […]

Judge slams brakes on new ‘No-Match’ enforcement rules

09/04/2007

A U.S. District Court judge has issued a temporary restraining order that stops the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing new rules on how employers must respond to no-match letters. A groups of civil liberties and labor organizations filed a lawsuit charging that the agency doesn’t have the authority to use Social Security records to crack down on illegal immigration.

On-Call time can be unpaid, even if you set restrictions on travel and activities

09/01/2007

When employees are on call, employers obviously want to avoid paying them for that time if they don’t do any actual work. The trick lies in knowing how to design on-call time …